Independent Report Finds Solyndra Was an Anomaly

As of America’s support of the industry, the Bloomberg report finds that to begin with, the DOE’s loan guarantee program has been wildly misinterpreted: The government isn’t handing out loans — or money of any sort — as some Republican lawmakers have characterized it. Rather, the program is designed to hand out loan guarantees, that is, conditional agreements to pay back a private lender if a borrower, in this case, a clean energy startup company, defaults.

As the report’s author, analyst Alison Williams, writes:

“When the government agrees to a loan guarantee, it promises to pay off the debt if the borrower doesn’t. If the borrower pays the debt, the government incurs no cost for its guarantee. In energy, loan guarantees help new-to-market companies or technologies overcome the so-called “valley of death” — when a company or technology is too established to receive start-up venture capital yet not established enough to afford traditional debt financing.”

Unfortunate as the bankruptcy of California solar panel company Solyndra was, considering it defaulted on a $535 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy, it isn't reflective of the overall performance of the Energy Department's loan guarantee program. In fact, aside from Solyndra, the loan guarantee program is actually extremely sound, supporting low-risk investments and maintaining a reserve of funding to draw upon, and ending it -- as Republicans have tried to do -- wouldn't help balance ... Read More →

‘Solyndra Was Just the Beginning’: Experts Predict Solar Industry Collapse

The fallout could be dramatic, CNN reported Wednesday. “Of the few hundred or so solar panel makers worldwide, just 20 to 40 are expected to remain standing in a few years time, said Mark Bachman, a renewables analyst at Avian Securities.”

“A combination of slack demand and massive oversupply” is leading to rapidly declining prices for solar panels, CNN reports. The supply side of that equation, at least, has been exacerbated by a federal government that gives lavish incentives to startups looking to sell solar panels. Given that solar remains a more expensive alternative to fossil fuels, a lack of consumer demand is perhaps unsurprising.

But the impending bankruptcies of so many solar companies will almost assuredly ensnare companies backed by taxpayer financing. Solyndra was the most high profile federally-backed company to go under. Evergreen Solar also received support from the Energy Department.

Those two will not be the last to go under, analysts say. “Solyndra was just the beginning,” another industry expert said. “We’re going to see a lot of companies go bankrupt.”